Meetings to be more convenient for public, county says

In order to make public meetings more convenient for the public, Perth County council adopted a bylaw last Thursday, July 6 that would allow such meetings to be held a little closer to home.

The bylaw in question allows for county council to delegate its authority to conduct public meetings for site-specific amendments to the county’s official plan and applications for draft plans of subdivision and condominium to at least two county councillors from the municipality in which any given application has originated.

After introducing the bylaw to county council at its June 1 meeting, adoption was deferred until July 6 to allow county staff time to answer a question – can the local municipal clerk record minutes at these public meetings - and address a concern regarding the delay between a public meeting and the subsequent consideration of comments by councillors at their next county council meeting.

“(These public meetings) would be on the same evening as local municipal council, at the same time as the local municipal council, so the local municipal clerk would be in attendance at those meetings. We have had many conversations and it is possible logistically to have the clerk take meeting notes, but we would have to have further discussions with local municipal staff regarding that,” Rothwell said.

As for the delay between the locally-held public meetings and the time when county councillors are able review and discuss the resultant reports and meeting minutes, Rothwell said that would simply be a reality of the bylaw.

Although the bylaw states that county council can delegate the authority to host public meetings to at least two county councillors from the municipality in which a planning application originated, Rothwell told Coun. Julie Behrns that should one of those county representatives be absent from the meeting, a county councillor from another municipality can be substituted in.

“You’re going to have to really coordinate those public meetings against vacation schedules because when you call a public meeting, you really have to have a public meeting. These are statutory public meetings, so you have to make sure that someone is there. It’s not insurmountable, but I think you’re going to have to coordinate,” Behrns said.

Public meetings are statutory for applications under the province’s Planning Act in order to ensure there is ample opportunity for public feedback on each application.

Since 2002, when county council overturned a previous (1997) bylaw allowing for a similar delegation of authority, all public meetings for applications under the Planning Act have been held at the Perth County Courthouse and were presided over by the entirety of council. However, Rothwell noted that the location of these meetings in Stratford has prevented some members of the public from attending due to distance or the timing of those meetings.

According to Rothwell’s June 1 report, the 1997 bylaw was abandoned following a discussion in which some county councillors said they were uncomfortable making decisions on subdivision applications after not having attended the public meeting to hear comments firsthand.

“The primary benefit of council delegating its authority to conduct the statutory public meetings for such applications is the convenience for most members of the public that could attend the public meeting in the host municipality at the municipal council chambers in (the) evening,” Rothwell wrote in his June 1 report. “If agreeable to the local municipalities, the public meeting could be conducted the same evening as the local council meeting, as was the practice in the past.

“These proposed changes could save time and effort for local councils, staff, and the public, while at the same time ensuring that all matters regarding a development are dealt with in a comprehensive manner.”